Brady: I wish I could make it look as easy as other quarterbacks do

Posted by Josh Alper on February 9, 2016, 6:47 AM EDT

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Tom Brady was part of a pregame ceremony honoring past Super Bowl MVPs before the Broncos beat the Panthers in Sunday’s Super Bowl 50 and he’s one of two players who has taken home the award three times in his career.

On top of those postseason exploits, Brady ranks among the all-time leaders in passing yards, touchdowns and most of the other metrics that are widely seen as positive attributes for an NFL quarterback. That didn’t stop the crowd at Levi’s Stadium from booing him, although that seemed to have more to do with the fact that there were a lot of Broncos fans on hand than a judgement that Brady didn’t belong at the ceremony.

Brady might have been OK with that judgement, though. In a interview with Jim Gray of Westwood One before the game, Brady said he “wouldn’t put myself in there” with the best quarterbacks of all time because he thinks he has to work harder than some of the others usually included in that group.

“I have to work my butt off all week and work really hard to get to the game feeling confident with what I am trying to accomplish and get down the field to score some points,” Brady said, via ESPN.com. “I guess for me because I have to work so hard at it and try so hard at it, that’s part of enjoying it for me. But I look at other players and say, ‘Gosh, I wish I could make it look as easy as they make it look.'”

Brady plays the humble card well — the “gosh” is a particularly nice touch — but there are plenty of times that the game looks easy for him and there’s plenty of hard work behind the success of every other great quarterback in the history of the league. The balance of talent to work may vary from quarterback to quarterback, but the results don’t leave much doubt about Brady’s spot among the league’s most accomplished quarterbacks.

God I hate Brady. Has a beautiful family, a wife that’s a super model that makes more money than he does, and more professional accolades than you can shake a stick at. Yet he comes off as a pretty humble person. One has to think that on the inside he has to be sticking his tongue out at everyone singing na, na, na na na na.

As a lifelong Bronco fan, I wouldn’t boo Brady. Granted, he is a nemesis, but his story and his accomplishments should earn the respect of any true fan of the game.
The league is changing. Guys like Brady and Manning are rapidly being replaced by the young college game option style QB’s with incredible talents. I am thankful that I got to watch the decade plus of Brady v. Manning games. In the future, they’ll be looked at as the legends of their era. I will miss them both.

Other QB’s do it without cheating. Or destroying their phones to destroy evidence. Or paying off other people to be dishonest. They don’t have their fathers defending them for their dishonest behavior either.

Brady is GOAT. He does make it look easy most of the time. Even though he took a beating at the hands of the Denver D, he still had em in position with time winding down. Thats what I like about Brady. You can beat him up but he wont quit.

It was still pretty classless by the Broncos fans in attendance. I can understand booing Brady when he comes into your stadium before the AFC title game, but this was about celebrating the Super Bow, the game of football and all the accomplishments Brady has made to it. If you can’t put down your blind hate or think that a little PSI out of a football (when even you cheered a guy who had more evidence against him murdering someone) should ruin that moment then you don’t deserve to partake.

Brady makes it look a lot easier than it is. A lot of QBs make it look easy when there is no pressure, but that’s where you start to separate the great ones. Brady gets better with pressure. Those San Francisco fans are not strangers to booing. They’ve heard their beloved Barry Bonds getting booed, even though it’s never been proven that he cheated. They’d love Brady too if he played for the 49ers.

Brady is one of the GOATs. I’m not sure the comparing different eras is equitable, but no matter which team you support, no one can say Brady isn’t one of the GOATs. He is, and as a life-long REDSKINS fan, I support him 100%. It’s been very enjoyable as a football fan to watch him play. I hope he wins one more Super Bowl before he retires–unless of course, he’s playing my REDSKINS.

Brady is Irish like many of us hear in New England. So we know all about and appresheate his hard work,dedication and toughness. No one works harder than him and it’s been that way for a long time. Toughness is mental not physical it’s about getting up when you can’t not putting down when you can. You can have your QB that can dance and dab and do backflips I’ll take the hard working fired up win like his life depended on it Brady every day of the week… And twice on Sunday.

Once again TB showing humility and admiration for the game. I wonder how he was able to actually make that statement with a straight face. Tom – you are the GOAT, there is no debate. Keep working hard though and continue to shine in the face of haters everywhere.

Plays the humble card well? Ever think he might actually be humble? Nothing was given to him at any stage – Backup in HS until senior year, Benched in college for the kid with the golden arm, 7th round NFL draft, 4th string his first year with the Patriots.

Go down the list (any list) of your top 10 NFL QBs and see how many were destined for greatness from an early age. Clearly they all put in the work. But I think the road Brady had was much more difficult and that he is only as good as is, for as long as he has been, because he is humble and realizes how much more he has to work at it to stay there.

The guy can be a little phony. We all get that. However, he really does work hard and is super clutch. For all Brady’s luck and good fortune he does a massive amount of work to earn it, and to his credit, is pretty humble about it.

Too bad the guy in Carolina doesn’t have the work ethic and humility part of being a leader figured out yet.

Nice backhanded shot at Montana, Manning and Rodgers. I’m sure they don’t work hard at all during the week and just show up on Sunday and wing it. “Gosh” Tom you must be the bestest hardest working QB in history. How insecure is this guy? Dudes won four Super Bowls and still has to talk himself up.

If you remove all of the manufactured conspiracies (easy to do unless you’re a member of #HatriotNation) it’s hard to argue against him as the GOAT. He’s done more with less his whole career, and has never reduced himself to HGH like PEDton. Anyone seen the meme with ol’ fivehead’s head shot from 1995 and now? It’s more dramatic than Bonds, the guy looks like he belongs on Easter Island #RealCheat #WifeUnderBus

Just look how easy Cam made watching the Broncos recover his fumble look. Brady would have been exerting all sorts of effort, diving in there trying to recover it. Cam made it look like he wasn’t even trying at all.

There’s talk of the Denver Defense being the best of all time. Well that may be true, but it took two games in Denver by the Refs with no blatant holding calls on Gronk…end-zone…and a tap on the shoulder call penalty against Patrick Chung…end-zone…and several other bad calls and no calls by the Refs to beat Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

Maybe if Brady plugged beer products in immediate post game comments and kissed billionaire pizza chain owners on the field, he would be more beloved? Nope. He should be in every other commercial, that would do it! Fact is, his numbers come in a 16 game, expanded playoff season, where PED’s are “tested” for, and dynasties are not allowed with the cap. 12 division titles. 10 conference championship games. 6 superbowls. No matter what the flat earthers say, there is no one more accomplished than Brady.

He has no option but to be humble. The commissioner has made certain of that by defaming him. And the Super Bowl 50 opening ceremonies are sufficient proof of just that.
What a disgusting display that was. Present amongst his previous SuperBowl MVP peers the majority of whom are also elite quarterbacks, he is the only one booed while the rest are strongly applauded. All while the NFL still acknowledges it has no proof that Brady did anything wrong and even more egregiously, didn’t bother to gather data to educate themselves and correct their error when they had the opportunity.
Goodell’s actions clearly meet all the criteria for a successful defamation law suit even when judged against the much higher standard required for a famous plaintiff like Brady. If the sitting judge was not in attendance or 1 of the 111 million who supposedly watched it on TV, Brady’s legal team can easily subpoena a copy of the NFL broadcast (I don’t think they would even need to get the NFL’s written permission to replay it in court in whole or in part).
Hey, you may not like Brady. You may not like Belichick, or Kraft or Adams or any of the Patriots, but you have to admit Brady hasn’t done anything to deserve that level of treatment. And NFL apologists who are trying to spin that it was Broncos fans in attendance and not the majority of fans in attendance who booed will have a hard time convincing a judge of that.
It was a disgusting display, that’s all. And one that I hope Goodell one day has the guts to apologize to Brady for. And at this point I am hopeful that the apology is accompanied by a $200,000,000 check.

Brady’s throwing mechanics are impeccable. A rocket comes off of his fingertips like it’s nothing and he doesn’t even have to step into the throw to do it. I would say he makes it look pretty easy. He’s also in his late 30s and playing like he’s 5 years younger.

The real question is how much longer he can last. And when he does begin to decline, will he retire gracefully, or drag it out a la Favre and potentially Manning.

Lol you make it look easier than anyone Brady, mainly b/c ur offense looks like a high school offense. Quick, short screens and slants. No chance of getting hit when ur taking 2 step drops, u rarely throw the ball more than 5-7 yards and u let the receiver do all the work. A 3rd string qb on the Bills got that patriots offense 11 wins. So when you get the pats 12 or 13 wins……….im sorry but im not overly impressed with that. Brady has nerves of steel- ill give him that, and u cannot teach that. But Brady is always at the top of the list in YAC yards (this yr more than 1/2 of his passing yards were after the catch and he averaged 3.2 yards per pass IN THE AIR. Some ppl on this site can throw the ball 3.2 yds accurately.

it was mostly Bronco’s fans, i did see some in the lower bowl clapping, but those Donkey Yahoos are a classless bunch for the most part. The people of San Fran, not a lot of which were few and far between. They love the hometown boy and would love to see him finish his career there. some Carolina fans butt hurt may have been booing too but most gave him a hand. Just the Donkey Fans almost as classless as Jets and Eagles fans.

Just people justifying their hate for him. He never says anything inflammatory. Heck, even some people reading this are taking it as an insult on other greats, when it is not that at all. People are petty.

There’s talk of the Denver Defense being the best of all time. Well that may be true, but it took two games in Denver by the Refs with no blatant holding calls on Gronk…end-zone…and a tap on the shoulder call penalty against Patrick Chung…end-zone…and several other bad calls and no calls by the Refs to beat Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

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yep, the refs stole the AFCCG from the Patriots, not the inability of the offense to reach the red zone during three quarters. Also, didn’t the refs helped the Pats to reach the red zone for the first time giving them 15 extra yards for a tackle against Edelman, didn’t the refs also ommited a grounding call against Brady to allow a 4 and 10 instead of a 4 and 25? Yeah, the refs and the NFL are out to get the Pats, that story is getting old.

The empty “cheating” comments and continuing to hold onto that narrative is proof enough this guy is the GOAT. You just cannot fathom how he has been able to accomplish what he has for such a dominate period. Its easier just to call him a cheater, when in fact he just works that hard and is that much better.

Justification for cheating? I don’t know another QB in the NFL that nicknames their fellow employee, “the Deflator”
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I wonder if I will ever get tired of correcting the lies from the haters. Brady never called anybody the Deflator. The guy referred to himself by this name ONE time in May 2014 not even in the conversation context of football. Please try to keep up

Amazing posters still think there was tampering of footballs! The NFL has admitted they didn’t know about the ideal gas law , apparently the posters all slept through 5th grade science class too!
Guess MIT & the NY Post got it wrong too when they both said there was no tampering!
science deniers!

lingsun54 says:
Feb 9, 2016 7:22 AM
Other QB’s do it without cheating. Or destroying their phones to destroy evidence. Or paying off other people to be dishonest. They don’t have their fathers defending them for their dishonest behavior either.

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It’s unfortunate that you haven’t read any of the solid reporting that’s been done by legitimate journalists.

Or you can put it in perspective of the actual interview, With Montana sitting right next to Brady:

Brady was asked if he considers himself to be one of the best quarterbacks ever. Here’s his response:

“That is a hell of a question and I wouldn’t put myself in there. I think there’s some incredible players that have played the position and a lot of guys do things differently to get the job done. You see different styles, different techniques. When you look at me being a fan of Joe Montana- nobody ever did it better than Joe Montana. In a way he was like the Michael Jordan of football. The style and the grace and the beauty of what Joe’s style was, it never looked hard for Joe.

“Another one of my idols, Steve Young, who was one of the most gifted players to ever play. You look at Troy Aikman, the efficiency with the way he played. You look at Aaron Rodgers and the way that he’s playing and you can’t imagine another quarterback could play as flawlessly as a guy like Aaron Rodgers. Then you watch Russell Wilson play and you never could imagine someone could get out situations and make plays out of nothing like Russell Wilson. Then you watch Cam Newton play. You’re blown away by the different styles of all these different players that make this game so spectacular.”

Whilst I agree Brady shouldn’t have been booed what with him being there in a non playing capacity….I’m sure he is used to getting booed. He’s a full grown man. You patriots fans don’t have to defend him or fight his battles for him. Have you started protesting at the stadium to get Kraft to pick up an O-Line? Got Denver again in Denver, so better pick one up this time 🏆🐎

There is no bigger fake in all the world than Peyton Manning. If it turned out that Budweiser and Papa Johns give you cancer he would find a way to smile and sell it to you stupid white trash America guy. Brady actually has the balls to call foods that are bad for you poison. He’s not perfect, but I know he’s physically and mentally tougher than every other quarterback out there. People put comments in here just to get a rise out of a Patriots fan and sometimes it works but at the end of the day you all secretly wish or maybe not so secretly wish that he was running your offense. You talk about Brandy being disingenuous, you guys are being disingenuous about not wanting him to be your quarterback. Enjoy your day :-).

I think it’s because the league has taken away his ability to cheat and gain an unfair advantage over his opponents that he now needs to “work harder” than other QBs…
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You do realize at 38 years old, TB had one of the best years of his career and was on par for another MVP season before losing almost his entire offense to extended injuries? Was among top 1-3 in passing yards, TDs, turnovers, completions, etc. etc. etc. What else ya got? Deep down you know TB will be back next year doing his thing…..but whatever helps you sleep at night

It would really be fun if Brady were to adopt Cam Newton’s juvenile and street antics with every TD and every win.

Then the Haters would be really overjoyed that Brady finally gave them something concrete focus on and to feed their irrational hate him for instead of just their normal emotional fear and paranoia that Brady will once again destroy their historically under-performing, loser teams.

Branch was booed too so we all know it was directed at the Patriots and not necessarily Brady.

It really is a badge of honor and a compliment to be a hated team. I hated the Raiders, 49ers and Cowboys and Shanahan Broncos back in the day but only because they were great and my own team wasn’t relevant yet.

A Titans fan throwing shade is even more comical than a Phins fan doing it. The obsession with the number 19 is understandable though. It’s the same number of games that TN has managed to win in the last FOUR seasons combined, coincidentally its also the number of games the Pats have lost in the last FIVE.
Poor little guy

The hypocrisy of Denver fans is that Chiefs, Raiders, and an alleged murderer were all introduced and cheered before Brady. If you can’t celebrate the great performers at the greatest game, then you’re a d.b., you suck as an NFL fan, and don’t deserve to be there.

Lol you make it look easier than anyone Brady, mainly b/c ur offense looks like a high school offense. Quick, short screens and slants. No chance of getting hit when ur taking 2 step drops, u rarely throw the ball more than 5-7 yards and u let the receiver do all the work. A 3rd string qb on the Bills got that patriots offense 11 wins. So when you get the pats 12 or 13 wins……….im sorry but im not overly impressed with that. Brady has nerves of steel- ill give him that, and u cannot teach that. But Brady is always at the top of the list in YAC yards (this yr more than 1/2 of his passing yards were after the catch and he averaged 3.2 yards per pass IN THE AIR.

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LOL. No he didn’t.

You know who did have 3.2 though? Joe Flacco. You know the guy who everyone says has a great deep ball. 🙂

In all of the NFL history (and football history in our own back yard) if a ball doesn’t have enough air in it you put air in it.

Now Goodell has us all believing that a slight reduction in PSI, to the point where the official cannot even notice it after picking up the ball and placing it on every play, creates a noticeable an advantage for a QB.

The solution could easily be for the officials squeeze the football between plays and replace it if the ref thinks it is too soft, as it has always been in the past.

Instead we are going to the laboratory and the NFL is trying to ruin the reputation of a great player.

Can’t help but wonder how so many professional teams have been beaten by that high school offense. Also seems like if it’s that simple then any HC that isn’t running it themselves or stopping the Pats from running it should be fired.

If you can’t get your whine to reflect the game you need to up your whine game.

And one that I hope Goodell one day has the guts to apologize to Brady for. And at this point I am hopeful that the apology is accompanied by a $200,000,000 check.
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We know Roger the Clown is too arrogant to apologize but a judge will be too happy to make him write that check. You know it’s coming. 🙂

Even better… make Brady commissioner and have him fire Goodell himself.

Nice backhanded shot at Montana, Manning and Rodgers. I’m sure they don’t work hard at all during the week and just show up on Sunday and wing it. “Gosh” Tom you must be the bestest hardest working QB in history. How insecure is this guy? Dudes won four Super Bowls and still has to talk himself up.

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There was no backhanded shot and it didn’t come across even remotely close to the way you say it did…but you knew that. 🙂

Now of course he does have a chip on his shoulder. That comes with the territory of being a 6th round draft pick who worked his way up to GOAT. 🙂 He’s not the only guy like that to have a chip on his shoulder and talk himself up. See Sherman, Richard.

As a Pats fan, it’s quite sick that people cheer on entitled, ego-ridden people like Peyton Manning or Cam Newton, etc, and then bash successful, underdog, hardworking people like Brady.

He’s nothing but humble and a good teammate.

Maybe he needs to do 7,000 commercials, pump some HGH, lie about it, give his whole time the CHinese HGH, and then pretend the league needs to get him a ring and pay off refs with Goodell standing right there, because his ego and forehead are so big?

I am sorry, but our society is seriously screwed, if we bash what’s good about it, whatever is left of that.

Too many losers, Millennials behind keyboards, who are unwilling to work hard like Brady, so they’re so jealous of his successes.

Not to mention, he’s laid waste to about 95% of the league for 15 years.

Get over it, people. He’s not going away and when the Pats are in the title game next year, we’ll all expect another set of lies and a made up witch hunt, so Goodell can hopefully use it to take away draft picks to attempt to keep NE down.

LMAO

JIg is up, folks.

Gomer Manning cheated with Chinese HGH after 5 neck surgeries and he disappeared from the team with Osweiler’s first start this year. Hmm.

If Brady did ANY of these above things, ESPN and the haters, would set up shop outside Brady’s house 24/7, 365 to try to profit off of it.

Belichick gives me tapes of the opposing team practices to watch, and I have to memorize all of their defensive signals so I know exactly what they are going to run…none of these other QB’s have to do all that extra work!

I don’t see how this comes off as humble. He’s saying that he works harder than other quarterbacks because they have so much natural ability that they can skate by. I’d rather be known as a hard worker than as someone who happened to be born with great ability.

I actually thought that Panthers fans were booing, you know, with all the talk about the Pats stealing a SB from them.
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Funny what happened to the Panthers this time in the Super Bowl when their OL doesn’t roid up like they did when they played the Patriots.

No question Brady works his tail off week in and week out. Belichick makes sure the entire team does that. That said, I’ve never heard anyone suggest that Montana, Staubach, Bradshaw, Manning, Favre worked any less than Brady does.

I think some of you didn’t get what Brady was trying to say. We all know Brady is all but a very gifted athlete. He doesn’t run fast, doesn’t throw darts like Rogers, Newton or even Cutler and is not the most mobile. But, in order to compensate, he works harder, studies more videos and keeps his body and mind in the best shape possible.

Add fierce competitiveness, clutch gene and a never-quit mentally to this and this is why he’s a HOF quaterback.

I started following the Patriots games since 2006 when the Pats beat the Bears, 9-1 at the time, the game Brady juked Urlacher. He had the least weapon that year and still made it to the AFCCG, much like his under-personnel 2013 season. I consider those two season being his best when you made something out of nothing! He’s able to win consistently year after year regardless of personnel change and only one play away from winning it all in 2011 when the defense was ranked dead last! Now, that’s the sign of a great quarterback.

His throwing mechanic is impeccable because he has to, for not having a cannon arm of a Jay Cutler. He has to rely on physics. Aesthetically his spiral is certainly prettier tighter than Peyton’s. Manning’s ball location is slightly superior though. And Rodger’s accuracy is out of this world! AR is probably the greatest pure passer since the great Dan Marino, arm strength, accuracy, touch, and angle – he truly is a baaad man! Brady’s pocket presence is nonpareil that as Greg Cosell once commented that Brady has to maneuver within the size of a boxing ring to avoid defenders and get rid of the ball quick enough while dissecting the defense, week after week! Mechanics and pocket presence, he got them pat.

Another intangible thing about Brady is his chemistry with his teammates. They all played hard for him, including current and retired players. The dreadful Skip Bayless is not someone I like to agree with but he made a great point about Peyton gives you the impression that his teammates are like playing for a coach while Brady’s teammates are playing for a brother in arm. Evidently, it shows in his celebration of helmet butting after a touchdown. As calm and assassin like in his demeanor on the field, there’s a bottled joy in his playing that gets uncorked when you see it! To be able to compartmentalize emotionally is of course the sign of an accomplished QB in any generation, Brady is in the top tier.

I’m attaching the full transcript below. To the naysayer, it clearly shows his humility and admiration for Montana. He’s not wrong by saying that he has to work hard because he HAS to work harder than those more athletically gifted players. He’s a consummate competitor!

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“I think there are some incredible players that have played the position and a lot of guys do things differently to get the job done. You see different styles, different techniques,” Brady said.

“When you look at me being a fan of Joe Montana; nobody ever did it better than Joe Montana. In a way, he was like the Michael Jordan of football. The style and the grace and the beauty of what Joe’s style was, it never looked hard for Joe.”

“I guess for me because I have to work so hard at it and try so hard at it, that’s part of enjoying it for me. But I look at other players and say, ‘Gosh, I wish I could make it look as easy as they make it look.'”

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Now that Peyton is at the twilight of his career and when Brady hangs it up, the game will miss these two great QBs (My own QB Mt Rushmore: Montana, Peyton, Brady, Elway) and more importantly their rivalry. Peyton clearly revolutionized the art of the forward pass before the snap and is the game’s most cerebral player ever. I believe Brady truly was inspired by Peyton’s concept and mixed in with the west-coast style offense and created his own system. To those who called him a “system” quarterback, well, he is the system: it’s the Tom Brady system, as Mangini once called it. The great Bill Walsh once told Steve Young that “championship football is orchestration.” In the first half of the 2015 season when the whole team was healthy, I truly believe Brady orchestrated the offense to perfection, even more precision driven and orchestrally beautiful to watch than the 2007 season! They were like a scoring machine! It was quite a site to watch. Unfortunately, injury unraveled the season. Brady is not done. He will be back.

When his generation of pocket passers (Peyton, Brees, Rodgers, Rivers, Big Ben, etc..) all retire and replaced by the newer dual option QBs, we will miss their artistry, which is the whole point of this long winded post! The game of football is best enjoyed on the field, all of that off-field nonsense should not distract us from this brutal violent beautiful game. I love football!

As a Steeler fan, I always expect us to lose if Brady is in. I saw a video of him when drafted and he looked pitiful. Hard work has made him the best to me. Mental toughness and a great coach has been his best help also. Although Manning was great, Brady is greater. Bradshaw is my favorite of course. Many retired QBs admitted to adjusting air in footballs. Brady is better than most and those who rag on him are just JEALOUS.

No team works harder than the Pats. Numerous former players that were on other teams before or after their time with the Pats have confirmed this.

Hard work, innovation and success used to be respected in this country. Now the politically correct, want everyone to get a participation trophy and nothing more, lazy, whining, self entitled crowd find the hard work and innovation somehow “cheating” because they are either incapable and or too lazy to do so themselves.

The corruption and stupidity of Goodell’s league office is incredible. They are the cheaters, not the Pats. They have lied about every major “scandal” they have manufactured against the Saints, Cowboys, Washington and Miami, and caught red handed lying about the Ray Rice incident in an attempt to cover it up.